An Idolatrous Procession Or A Common Activity Of Burning Incense?

Influenced profoundly by the tradition of Wu and Yue (In sharp contrast to Central Plains areas, Wu and Yue had a prevalent fashion of witchcraft, people show great interests in superstition and witchcraft in pre-Qin period), Hangzhou has a long history of folk beliefs. Afterwards, with the immigration from Central Plains, cultural integration became inevitable, and the result of integration also influenced the folk beliefs of Hangzhou. Hence, folk beliefs of Hangzhou show the characters of both the tradition of witchcraft and the great influence of Buddhism. Under such circumstances, along with the development of the idolatrous procession, there was also explosion of temple fairs. Both of these activities inosculated and developed, became part of the daily life of the people in Hangzhou, shaping into a great tradition.After the found of the Republic of China, the country advocated science and prohibited superstition with an irreversible attitude. The government of the Republic made strict controls to the idolatrous procession activities by issuing a series of decrees. The local government of Hangzhou also made great efforts to put the folk belief affairs under their daily administration by various kinds of methods. The new social value was just been spread, yet the old tradition cannot eliminate in a short period, then, conflicts between the new and the old were inevitable.A document collected in Hangzhou Archives shows during ROC35(1946AD) to ROC37(1948AD), Hangzhou government repeatedly banned on temple fairs of Dongyue Temple, but ended with little success. The affair in this special historical period reflected the different attitudes to new values and old traditions from different levels of government to common people.The article is trying to analyze the influence of the political and social changes brought by the found of the Republic of China upon folk beliefs by analyzing the changes and differences in attitudes from different levels of governments and different kinds of people through the affair of Dongyue temple of Santai Mountain.